Saudi: 53 Ethiopian Christians arrested for praying in a private home
February 21, 2013: Saudi Arabia has arrested 53 Ethiopian Christians - 46 women
and six men - for holding a prayer meeting in a private home. Police officials have
sealed the house and taken the faithful away, accusing the three religious leaders
present of attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity. The incident occurred at
Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province of the Kingdom, and dates to February
8, but local sources, linked to the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty
Commission (WEA-Rlc) recently reported the news.
According to the WEA-RLC,
Saudi authorities should release two of the Christians who hold residency permits.
In all likelihood, all the others will be deported. Saudi Arabia does not recognize,
or protect, any religious expression other than Islam. The religious police (muttawa)
carries out controls to eliminate the presence of Bibles, rosaries, Crosses and Christian
assemblies. And even if the royal family allows religious practices other than Islam,
at least in private, muttawa agents tend not to differentiate.
This is not
the first episode of religious persecution against the Ethiopian community. In December
2011, the Saudi authorities arrested 35 Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, charging
them with "illegal socialization." In this case, the faithful were detained in the
middle of a prayer meeting in a private home in Jeddah. According to Human Rights
Watch (HRW), the imprisoned women were subjected to arbitrary "medical inspections".
The city of Dammam, where the accident occurred on February 8, is a major industrial
center and port, rich in oil and natural gas.